Kyrgios through after umpire verbals on damp day in Paris

May 22, 2016 20:47

Kyrgios through after umpire verbals on damp day in Paris

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Nick Kyrgios regained his composure after having another run-in with an umpire to be one of only five men to make it through to the second round as the dismal weather affected day one of the French Open.

Kyrgios was given a code violation by Carlos Ramos, who felt the outspoken Australian was out of line when he called 'towel' to a ball-boy during his 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 first-round win over Marco Cecchinato.

The 17th seed from Canberra channelled his frustration in order to advance at the expense of the Italian on the Paris clay and set up a meeting with lucky loser Igor Sijsling.

Benoit Paire, seeded 19, needed five sets to see off Radu Albot 6-2 4-6 6-4 1-6 6-4 on home court, while Andrey Kuznetsov, Teymuraz Gabashvili and Sijsling were the only other men to win before rain brought a premature end to the opening day.

KYRGIOS BAFFLED BY CODE VIOLATION

The controversial Kyrgios felt he was hard done by when umpire Ramos ticked him off in an explosive start to his tournament.

Kyrgios was at a loss to understand how he could be punished, comparing the incident to when Novak Djokovic pushed away Carlos Bernardes' arm at the Internazionali d'Italia this month.

"A code violation for saying towel loud? Now I've seen it all," Kyrgios said after Ramos took exception to the 21-year-old raising his voice to the ball-boy.

"What rules am I breaking? How can you sit there and give me a code for that? But when Djokovic pushes an umpire out of the way that's alright? Tell the whole world that's alright.

"Unbelievable bias, man. Unbelievable bias."

SCARE FOR PAIRE

Paire was taken all the way by Moldovan world number 137 Albot before eventually coming through despite serving 10 double faults.

The 27-year-old from Avignon conjured up 65 winners and made a whopping 78 unforced errors in a tense five-setter and the Frenchman knows he will have to raise his game in order to go any further.

"I didn't serve well. So the match was tough for me, even though I did get off to a good start. On the face of it, it was easy at the start, but I was uptight." he said.

"First round at the French Open, it was complicated, but I'm delighted because I have advanced to the next round. I'm not really tired, because the rallies were not long. I'm relieved, and I feel good, very happy."

NISHIKORI ON COURSE

Kei Nishikori had one foot in the second round when play was suspended, with the fifth seed set to resume leading 6-1 7-5 2-1 against Simone Bolelli.

Jack Sock and Robin Haase will return to Court 2 for a deciding final set after the latter battled back from two sets down.